Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Complètement Délicieux!

So, here's a little story:

Willimantic, the town I live in here in CT, has it's ghetto parts. But it's also a quite charming little "city" - it has a main street, local shops and eateries, and a very - community - feel. They have two symbols - frogs and spools of thread (yeah, IDK). On YouTube, there's a Willimantic Official Song.

On Valentine's day weekend, they had their annual Chocolate Festival, including the "Chocolate Stroll" where you walk up and down Main Street and go into every shop and get some sort of chocolate - some places had homemade Whoopi pies, some places made cookies, and some places just had Hershey Kisses. Some places did their chocolate theme based on the type of establishment - Cafémantic (best café ever), did speciality coffee. The place where they give you lessons on making your own beer and wine had chocolate beer. It was a very cute day.

Willimantic also has it's own local Food Co-Op, a place I'd never been to. They have live music all the time, they sell local produce. It's actually kind of too tree-huggery and expensive, so I never really had much interest. During the Chocolate Festival, they were celebrating their birthday. They had locals bake cakes and then they gave out pieces of said cake for free. I was insanely stuffed by this point, but one cake was really pretty, so I asked for the teensiest sliver possible (it was still a huge piece). I took one bite, and my eyes lit up: I found the cake that will be my wedding cake if I ever find a boy who doesn't suck. I asked the not-so-bright cake cutter (volunteer) if she had the recipe, and what was it called. She told me it was Pistachio Rosewater but she didn't have the recipe. I sulked, and made my friends try this cake. They agreed on it's amazingness, but weren't that excited about it. I walked past a cash register to ask for a garbage can for my plate, and chatted with the cashier. She told me that a woman in a red bandana made the cake, and was floating around somewhere. I told my friends BRB and stalked down this lady and begged her for the recipe.

She told me it was from a cookbook called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and that she just adapted it to cake form. I wrote down the title (like I'd forget it) and thanked her a million times.

I finally found the book, and a Whole Foods that would carry all the soy/vegan ingredients I'm not familiar with, and also rosewater. I bought everything on Sunday. I made them tonight (Monday).

OMG. COMPLETE AND TOTAL SUCCESS! Now I just need a boy and we're all good for a wedding.

And the other cupcakes in the book look amazing. I bought stuff for Green Tea cupcakes, and the Peanut Butter ones will follow. S'mores, Cookies n Cream, Pineapple Right Side Up and Mint Chip are also on the list.

Tip: If you can find the pistachios already shelled and/or chopped, get those. And tell me where you got them.

PS: First time ever piping icing, so no pink-poop comments, please.

PPS: I might have a 3 year old to-be who's getting these for her birthday.